The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1887-12-09

tenderly at the growing herbs.
"Jest as nat'ral as ever" said uncle
Seth, slowly and sadly, as his nostrils di-
| lated. 'Jest as nat raj as when NIFTY an
| used to go huckleberryin' in the medder
near the plum trees, out in Pelham. Say,
jedge, ye wouldn't mind givin' me boo
kay on EN-, would We? I'd kind O. like to
smell 'em and take 'em home to Nifty"
And old Mrs. Baxter came over from
Evans addition and begged bookay, too.
She cried softly over the coarse green
leaves as if the sight of them awakened
memories of the time when old uncle
Dan'l and she started out in life together
in little frame cottage sat Dummerston,
on the West river, jest six miles FIN Brat
tleboro'.' Oh, yes, the Yankee folk came
from all parts of Denver to see that WON
derful front yard to pluck the catnip
leaves and to tell marvellous stories OF the
cures the herb had effected. And all this
time the catnip bushes kept growing and
growing and growing, and their fragrance
went up and was waited hither and thither
by the breezes.
Away up on top of a very high mountain
near Del Norte lived an old Maltese cat,
the maternal ancestor of many generations
of kittens. She had come across the plains
in a prairie schooner in 1859 with a party
of emigrants, and now she lived in the hos
| pitable loft of stable ON the top of this
imposing peak, near which Del Norte is
| located. One night this old Maltese cat
was traversing the ridge-pole of the stable,
when she was brought to sudden stand
still by the breeze that blew strong from
the northeast.
"Wee-ow-ow!'' exclaimed the old Nal
tese cat; and her eyes glittered strangely,
her tail began to expand and her venerable
fur rose on her back.
"Why, gran ma inquired one of the
younger cats a demure ma iden tabby of
uncertain age, "why, gran'ma, what ais
you?"
"Wee-ow-ow!' replied the old Maltese
cat. "Wee-ow-ow! | smell catnip!'
Now, the other cats had heard about cat
nip, but had never seen any. The stories
which the old Maltese cat had told about
her experiences with the beloved weed be-
fore she left her kittenhood home in Maine
had been handed around among the other
cats as quaint legends. All the other cats
had heard tell of the subtitle glories of cat
nip, but none had ever beheld or even
whitfield the grateful herb
''Where asked twenty young cats in
chorus.
''Oh, don't know, replied the old Nal
tese cat, "but | can smell it, and I'm going
to follow up the trail until find it."
With these portentous words the old
Maltese cat whisked her ancient tail, gave
gigantic "Wee-ow" and started on
brisk run for Denver, three hundred miles
away.
"Wee- ow-owl' cried the other cats-and
the kittens, too-and off they started for
Denver, giving the old Maltese hot race
over hill and valley, peak and plain, mead
and wold
The word was passed around and the
cry went here and there like a wild-fire-
''Catnip, catnip. We're going to get some
catnip!' The tidings reached Alamosa
and ran along the whole mountain range
of Colorado. The excitement was intense;
cats hurried from ever house, cabin, barn,
stable, shed and mine and Joined the vast
procession. Every city, town, hamlet and
camp was instantaneously deserted by its
cat population-such a yowling had never
before been heard, such seething army of
cats had never before been seen. The
miner in his lonely hut, hearing the awful
rush, sprang from his cot and cried: '1he
snowslide? the snowslide! Run for your
llvesr' But it was only the cats, gallop-
ing TO Denver. Oh, it was prodigious
spectacle, and the old Maltese cat led the
van.
Judge Toll was dreaming pleasant
dreams that night, when he was awakened
therefrom by din which threw him into
a cold sweat. He crawled out of bed, slip
ped quietly into his trousers, seized his
faithful shotgun and stole softly to the
window. The strange noise seemed to
come from the front yard-yes, from the
catnip bushes i'll the front yard. The
Judge peored out of the window, and what
do you think you he saw?
! Cats.
| Cats,
Myriads of cats-billows of catsl Cats
of every size, weight, color, sex, condition
and description; black cats, white cats, tabby
cats, Maltese cats, brindle cats. tortoise
shell cats, spotted cats, striped cats, brown
cats, yellow cats, mauve cats, gamboge
cats; long cats, short cats, tall cats, fat
cats, lean cats, wall-eyed cats, three-legged
cats, mamma cats, papa cats and kittens
oh, yes, kittens of every kind and without
number! And there they were in Judge
Tolls front yard among and on the catnip
bushes, purring, sprawling and yowling
like so many demons.
| "Purr-r-r," said the old way-back NAL
tese cat from Del Norte; ''purr-r-r, oh,
isn't this lovely? It's the first catnip I've
had in going on twenty-five years-purr-r-r!
thank Heaven that l have lived to see
this grateful fruit introduced into the
Rocky Mountain region.'
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